Created by the public interest law firm Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal in Washington, D.C.

Friday, January 9, 2015

Court Grants Wild Horse Advocates’ Motion to Intervene in State of Wyoming’s Suit Seeking Removal of Wild Horses from Range

The United States District Court for the District of
Wyoming has granted our motion to intervene on behalf of the American Wild
Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC), The Cloud Foundation, Return to Freedom,
and wild horse advocates and photographers Carol Walker and Kimerlee Curyl, in
a case brought by the State of Wyoming against the Bureau of Land Management
(BLM).Wyoming seeks a court order
requiring the removal of hundreds of wild horses from public lands in Wyoming—a
state in which fewer than 2,500 wild horses remain, which is far below the
federal government’s established Appropriate Management Level for the state’s wild
horse population. Our clients wanted to intervene in the case to ensure that the
interests of wild horses are protected from the pro-ranching special interests
and their allies in state government. The purpose of our intervention is to
prevent the federal government from acceding to the State’s claims that the
horses must be removed from the public lands to protect the private livestock
that are allowed to graze on the same lands, and which outnumber wild horses in
the state by the thousands. The Judge’s Order granted our clients intervention
as a matter of right in order to protect their aesthetic, educational, and
economic interests in the wild horses that roam the range in Wyoming.